With more African Americans living with illness or being at higher risk for illness, the need for quality care and professionals to provide that care are at a critical high. Experts estimate that by the year 2025 there will be a shortage of over half a million nurses to care for the nation's aging population. For Dr. Beverly Malone, CEO for the National League of Nursing, making a new generation aware about the many career opportunities available in nursing is key to reversing this statistic and more important, helping people to age in communities and not hospitals.
"I have partnered with our colleagues at Johnson & Johnson with the Campaign for Nursing's Future to actually knock on their door. Enter their homes in terms of ads that will be right there on their TVs, on their screens, saying to them 'Have you thought about nursing? Can you see all the wonderful things that can happen when you think about nursing?' And to make sure there is not just diversity, but inclusion. Nursing provides that," explained Dr. Malone in a recent interview with BlackDoctor.org.
The wonderful world of nursing was first introduced to Dr. Malone by watching her great-grandmother who raised her. "She was the community healer and I was always amazed by her," shared Dr. Malone. "I always wanted to make a difference in the lives of other people, whether it was nursing or whether it was something else, I wanted to be of some significance to someone else. Nursing provides plenty of opportunity for that."
Nurses are the people who live with a patient and their family on their health journeys every day. Being there for patients and keeping them healthy - that's what nurses do says Dr. Malone. There is a great deal of pride when she speaks about the nursing profession, a pride that may be contrary to common myths about what nursing is and what nurses really do.
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Two huge myths Dr. Malone points out are that nurses only work in hospitals and only do nursing. As evidenced by her own international career this is far from the truth. "My background is a good example. My background is I'm a psychiatric mental health nurse, but in addition to that I got my PhD in clinical psychology, so I'm also a licensed clinical psychologist."Currently, an estimated 13% of African Americans are in the nursing profession and increasing those numbers is vital to caring for an aging African American population. "It's already been shown that it's better to have those who remind you of yourself, who look like you, they show that the healing is even better when you're working with folks who are there who are like you." A large part of making sure nurses of color come into the profession is having role models and examples and mentors available and working with the school system, according to Dr. Malone. Part of the Campaign for Nursing's Future is to make sure nursing is presented as "a choice at an earlier stage of the game."
As for the future of nursing, Dr. Malone is excited about the possibilities for nurses to be out in communities and helping people to age at home and not in hospitals. "I can't think of anything better than that, than to know that as you grow you stay in place. As you age, you age in place. You don't go into a nursing home... nurses help to build that system around how you can age in place, in your own home and keep yourself healthy."
"The community is huge and the emphasis will be on how to keep people healthy and out of hospitals. Isn't that a beautiful thing?!"
Indeed it is.
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For more information on The Campaign for Nursing's Future, click DiscoverNursing.com.
